


A History of Duct Tape

by Willibald



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-08-18
Updated: 2007-08-18
Packaged: 2017-11-23 11:08:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/621447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Willibald/pseuds/Willibald
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A pseudo accademic piece that might appeal to SCA members and other historical re-creators</p>
            </blockquote>





	A History of Duct Tape

Originally, duct tape was produced by sticking a sheet of finely beaten lead to a cloth backing with glue made from boiled fish skins and honey, but a layer of beeswax mixed with powdered lead soon became more popular as the outer coating. It was used to cover joints in conduits but its usefulness in making quick, watertight mends led to it becoming popular with a much wider audience.

The earliest recorded mention of duct tape is found in the Peterborough Chronicles, although it is possible that the fasciaplumba referred to by Pliny may be the same material1. In the Chronicle we find the following in a passage describing Harold Godwinson's triumphant return from Stamford Bridge:

Þen war Harald Cyning sare earmcearig ond fore ducte clypiag his helm niwian. Naene war findig onmiddan Ænglisc. Cweð Cyning, Gif gefeohtan beþurfan ic beon boggerig!2

We can see from this early example that duct tape was expected to be a staple in the armourer's kit.

As with many other things, the Normans introduced a courtly name, gaffare, and the uses to which it was put continued to grow. Richard I of England was known to carry an eight inch long rod made from layers of gaffare (although only he and possibly Blondel knew what it was for) and William Wallace had a sporran made from it. It is usually considered that gaffare was superior to the ducte of the lower classes, it was certainly more expensive and can often be seen included among inventories of possessions or wills, e.g..

To my nephew William, my third best houpeland, two shirts, a small bed, two rolls grey gaffre, one roll blue gaffre...3

It can be seen from this that gaffer was now available in colours other than lead grey. This development almost certainly originated in the Mediterranean. Beeswax blended with olive oil was found to be both more pliable and more ready to accept pigment (usually in a powder form) than pure wax. The finest gaffer was said to come from Spain, and at its most lavish was coloured with ground gemstones. So prized was it at court that Dante made comment of it in his Divine Comedy:

So sat they who had once been found  
Adorned with tape of colour bold;  
Now hands and eyes and mouth be bound  
In gaffer of the purest gold.4

Meanwhile, duct continued to be made for the common folk by plumbers throughout Europe. As the Renaissance continued, the more inventive found an ever increasing number of ways that the tape could be applied. This is echoed by the fact that rolls of tape appear several times in the marginalia of Leonardo da Vinci.

One profession that particularly took to duct tape was the theatre, where it could be used for instant repairs to scenery and props or to resize a costume for a substitute actor when the one it had been made for was too drunk, too unconscious or too dead from the plague to perform. Will Kemp in his book A Nine Days Wonder describes not only its use to reattach errant bells but that when The Theatre was moved back across the Thames, the galleries were "held up by so much of London's duct tape that Raleigh's arse must be hanging out of his hose." Shakespeare, however, was more refined when he wrote:

Yet never laces worked so hard as did  
The gaffer holding this fine wench together5

Thus it can be seen that duct or gaffer tape has been in use throughout history, although not necessarily in the form that we know it today, and is therefore a quite acceptable part of re-enactment. I have heard of die hard authenticity freaks who insist on making their own from traditional materials, but these are in the minority.

 

Notes.

1 Dr Johnson suggested that the name 'duct' originated as a mistranslation from and to Latin: plumbum being 'lead' (the metal) while ducto is 'I lead'.

2 'Then was King Harold very worried and called for duct (tape) to mend his helmet. None was found among the English. Quoth the King "If we need to fight (again) I'm buggered!"'

3 The will of Edmund Paston 1398-1437.

4 Inferno, Canto XXVII. Dorothy L Sayers translation.

5 Loves Labour's Won Act 2 scene 4.


End file.
